There was an engine tested a few years ago, I think the developers called it an Ion drive, where it slowly built thrust.
During the initial orbital test it went to nearly full operation and then shut down at the last second due to some failure?
Is this that same drive version 2?

It is not. The EM Drive has only been through the studies I linked over the past two years, and in none of them did it fail. Ion propulsion has been a thing for a while according to https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/fs21grc.html , so if it was an Ion drive it would've been an experimental one trying something new. The EM Drive is awesome because it breaks one of the laws of physics (or at least as we understand them), and, thus far, it has only been confirmed in experiments (few as they may be).*

Truly a wondrous time to live in. :)

*Again, it is still possible it doesn't actually work the way we think it does, but 2/2 on direct experiments and 1/1 on "Well, it's not this instead" is reason to get excited in my book!

Yeah, the cool/baffling thing about the EM Drive is there is no discernable reason why it should create thrust...but it does. I can't remember the article I saw that speculated on what makes it work (or, rather, cited a paper speculating on why it works)...

But it doesn't burn any fuel. It doesn't have any exhaust. It's terrible, for those reasons, for rapid acceleration. But because it doesn't burn fuel, it's an incredible theoretical option for long-duration voyages, because it can continue accelerating beyond its initial thrust to break orbit...which means it has the potential to build up speeds that, heretofore, have been the stuff of dreams. If I recall correctly (it's been a long time since I read any articles about it, so I may have this wrong), it is speculated that, if they can scale it up to an appropriate size and it still functions in the way it has with small-scale tests, it would cut travel time to Mars down to a couple of months or less...

Spent nearly eight hours bowling and playing laser tag with my family for my seventh anniversary Monday. My wife even got in on the laser tag for a few games; she prefers bowling, but the kids wanted laser tag and video games. All-in-all, a good anniversary. She had fun shooting at me.LOL

CrazyIvan777 member, 223 postsThu 4 Jan 2018at 19:37

msg #766

Re: Good stuff!

That sounds like a great anniversary!

After an entire lifetime of being sedentary (and paying the health price for such) I am now on week 3 of biking (stationary bike in my apartment) 3 days a week, adding one minute to the ride each time. Today I crested 19 minutes 20 seconds. Super proud of myself!

Add in that, because there's no fuel, you don't have to allocate space for fuel in your build, which accounts for huge amounts of both volume and weight in modern rockets and spaceship design. Now, getting it to the point where it could lift a rocket off the ground is currently difficult to imagine, but for spaceships it's incredible.

Also, new Monster Hunter World trailer and beta announcement has me so hyped! SUCH NERDGASM.

WHOOOOOOOoooooooooOOOOOOO strong Onion! and Horseradish... I finally got my turkey sandwich "recipe" down pat. Very cheap, very yummy, and (sort of) SPICY! I'd be glad to make anyone one, if they want one. I'll even give you a REAL one if you ever come by my part of Kansas. Whoooo! Very strong. :'D

Wrapping up my third consecutive week of "gotta be done by the end of the week" projects...and everything worked out well, all three times! Masquerade mask stencils for a New Years Eve event, a pile of clothes to be altered for a friend who left for Thailand first thing this week, and makeup for The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and The Cowardly Lion for promotional photos for the show.

This also puts me WAY ahead of the game for the actual show run. I've never had a chance to 'test run' prosthetics this far in advance. I need to remake a few pieces...but I know I've got stuff that will work, and look good.

Dottie_V member, 117 posts The fifth in a series of odd things you saw today.Wed 17 Jan 2018at 00:53

msg #771

Re: Good stuff!

I got the job! Being bilingual and fully certified nationally and statewide bumped up my starting pay offer too!

I haven't stopped smiling since the interview concluded. <3

jpetoh member, 366 posts As irrational as pi.Tue 23 Jan 2018at 03:18

msg #772

Re: Good stuff!

In September, my son face-planted at the bottom of a six-foot deep pool. In an effort to encourage the swimmers to dive over and out instead of belly-flopping from the platform for a racing start, his coach had been using a skinny PVC pipe wrapped in a pool noodle for the kids to dive over. Per the teams governing league and the American Red Cross, this training method needs to be done into at least 12 feet of water, twice as deep as the pool my son was in. The injury resulted in an ambulance ride, a ten-hour ER visit, and a $2.5K+ medical bill.

After a LOT of e-mails, meetings, and go-rounds, I finally got the agent at the team's liability insurance to agree that, yes, we should receive full compensation for the post-insurance bill and ambulance ride. It may take a few more weeks to get a check, but it the answer we wanted and needed.

My wife and kids are away for a week. I spent the weekend drinking, eating, watching and playing. It's the best time I have had in a very long time!

engine member, 535 postsMon 5 Feb 2018at 17:44

msg #775

Re: Good stuff!

Very minor, but bear with me:

My very favorite movie is The Last Starfighter. Now, I know it's utterly ridiculous, and I am in no way expecting it to be accurate about anything. It sounds cool, it looks cool, it does everything I want.

But one part always bugged me: in the midst of a whole bunch of ridiculous stuff, like a flying car leaving Earth and passing Saturn a few minutes later just before jumping to another solar system, a character says "Shifting into stardrive at Columba Zeta. Hold tight."

It was jarring to me because "Columba Zeta" just sounds like nonsense. It sounds like it's a stellar location, but why say it at all when it's clearly made up?

Except that it's only partially made up, and actually sort of refers to a real thing.

I didn't know until today that "Columba" is an actual constellation, the Dove, just south of Canis Major and Lupus. Now, there's no "Columba Zeta" or "Zeta Columbae" listed, and it's still a nonsense thing to say, but it's at least plausibly to do with actual outer space. I'll also note that the Dove often represents peace and the characters are headed to a league of peace-lovers who have been forced into conflict.

Made me smile.

Dottie_V member, 119 posts The fifth in a series of odd things you saw today.Fri 9 Feb 2018at 04:40

msg #776

Re: Good stuff!

I completed my first night of cashier training/perscription sorting! Some hiccups but pretty good for the most part. I'm tired but in a happy accomplished kind of way.

I've been helping one of the high schools in my area with their spring musical production every year, since 2005, doing makeup (and, in the past few years, fabricating some specialty pieces like Ursula's wig, Flotsam and Jetsam's costumes, the Great and Powerful Oz's head...)

Just found out what next year's show is going to be. Phantom of the Opera. Now, as shows go, I find it a lot more spectacle than substance...but I'm looking forward to it, as a designer. The costume designer already asked me to start working on a mask (no problem, masks are easy) and this gives me a LOT of time to come up with some really cool prosthetics for the Phantom to wear under the mask. So, I'm looking forward to it. It's almost certainly going to be a much simpler makeup show than the past few I've done there! (Wizard of Oz, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Shrek...) Need to track down a copy and watch it with an eye to what I'd do with the characters if I was responsible for how they look (because, to a certain extent, I will be...)

I'm kind of excited for it...I was a percussionist in my university symphony when it was still riding high on its initial wave if fame, gotto play some of the music. It's not the deepest story ever told on stage, by any means, but it will be a really good show, and we've got a couple of really solid guys who will be seniors next year that will make a solid base to build a cast around. I just hope they haven't taken it for granted that they'll get specific roles, just because they were leads in this year's musical. Their odds are really good...but auditions are still a ways off.

As of an hour (and a little change) ago, I've been on this world for half a century. I can remember when 50 seemed ancient, to me...and while I'd be lying if I said I still feel like I'm 25, I definitely don't feel like what I expected fifty to be (most of the time...there are some days at work that definitely remind me I'm middle-aged...) In good health, with a decent job...my life is by no means perfect, but I'm pretty content with where I'm at.